Threat of ad blocking fails to slow internet ad spend

Advertisers spent a record £3.98bn on digital advertising in the first half of 2015 – an increase of 13.4% year-on-year, according to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK Digital Adspend report, conducted by PwC.

Digital advertising revenues grew by 27.5% to reach £1.3bn, which represents 33% of total digital ad spend. This is digital’s largest ever share.

Within display advertising, video ad spend grew by 56% to £292m; social media spend grew 51% to £574m, native/ content grew 50% to £325m, and tablet-dedicated ad spend grew 115% to £68m.

“Recently, a lot of the attention on digital advertising has been around the challenges, such as ad blocking,” said Tim Elkington, chief strategy officer, IAB UK. “However, it’s clear to see the UK digital advertising industry is maintaining its strong revenue growth at a much greater rate than the overall economy. The fact remains, as consumers spend more time on connected devices, advertisers must increasingly direct their attention and budgets there.”